Gliese 412 A is a red dwarf in Ursa Major, the brighter member of a pair whose fainter member, WX Ursae Majoris, is a well-known flare star.
At a glance
| type | red dwarf (class M) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 15.8 light-years (4.85 pc) |
| its light left it | 15.8 years ago |
| luminosity | 0.0212 × the Sun |
| radius | 0.4 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 3,500 K |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Gliese 412 A
Gliese 412 A is a cool, low-mass star, small and dim but not among the very smallest. It has a companion, Gliese 412 B, a much smaller red dwarf that orbits it at a wide separation.
The companion is better known by its variable-star name, WX Ursae Majoris, because it flares: its brightness jumps suddenly as magnetic energy is released at its surface. The pair shows a common pattern among red dwarfs, where the smaller, cooler stars tend to be the more violently active ones.
What you see in the piece
From Earth neither star reaches the naked-eye limit in the piece. Fly to it and the pair resolves into two red points of different brightness.
Questions
What kind of star is Gliese 412 A?
It is a red dwarf (class M) with a surface temperature of about 3,500 K and a luminosity of 0.0212 × the Sun.